Dawn Richard (Danity Kane, Dirty Money) performs the hit tune ’86 from her solo album, “GoldenHeart,” and chats with Shira Lazar and Chris Thompson about the ideas behind the album, defining the “progressive R&B” sound and artists that inspire her.

The indie artist is all about rocking her music outside a record label, having recently debuted her “GoldenHeart” album at #1 on R&B iTunes and charting Top 10 on R&B’s Billboard. Following up from an amicable split with Diddy’s Bad Boy Records, Dawn thanks her amazing team for their passion and hard work in helping her to create a critically-acclaimed album .

And this is just the beginning, as “GoldenHeart” marks the first in a trilogy of musical releases. “My story has been so crazy that I feel like I can’t tell it in just one album,” Dawn says. Mapping out the rise, fall, and comeback of her career thus far, she’ll follow “GoldenHeart” with “BlackHeart” in the Fall and “RedemptionHeart” at the beginning of 2014.

In terms of the music itself, the artist was unsure of how people would respond, considering how progressive her sound is. “It’s R&B taken to the next and tenth power. It’s pushing boundaries. It’s clashing genres,” she says. “I think are people are appreciating that – that I’m bending and stretching the rules. We’re kind of the rebels right now.”

While she’s appreciative of bands like Florence + The Machine and Bat For Lashes for taking risks in their genres as well, Dawn cites Kendrick Lamar as her current jam.

Finally, we challenge Dawn to a special Grammys edition of “Who Sent That Tweet,” testing her knowledge of a music-filled News Feed. How many of these did you know?